Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for being here, Mr. Carney.
We've heard numerous times how important it is to keep Canada competitive, and we've seen that Canada has gone a long way in doing just that, especially in relation to business taxes.
KPMG's recent competitive alternatives study showed that we now hold a business cost advantage over the United States. They also noted that Canada, though, cannot rest on its laurels on lower business taxes.
In fact, let me quote them. They say that Canada “must continue to present a clear value proposition to businesses in other areas in order to maintain its attractiveness for international firms”. They also explained this by noting that Canada's “big rivals are no longer developed countries like the U.S., but emerging low-cost economies, such as Mexico”.
This would appear to be a sentiment that you agreed with. In fact, I'd just like to quote a speech that you gave this past March:
Whatever the combination of reasons behind Canada's poor productivity record, there are several avenues available to policy-makers to encourage sustainable longer-run growth. It is important to acknowledge that successive governments have taken many steps in the right direction.... Corporate tax competitiveness–particularly for new investment–has improved markedly over the past decade and is now among the most attractive in the industrialized world. Canada has also actively pursued trade openness through new agreements and unilateral tariff reductions. Staying the course in these regards is likely the single most important contribution of the public sector.
Can you expand on why staying the course on Canada's business competitiveness is that important?